Stolen Moments
by bookworm412
Summary: Just a happy one-shot about Iruka and Naruto meeting. With some bribing, it might turn out to be a whole set. Enjoy!


**Stolen Moments**

**Disclaimer:** Don't own anything, 'cept maybe the plot...

_Author Note:_Just a little one shot on Iruka/Naruto bonding time. They make the cutest Father Son pairing, like, ever!

**Small**

Being small had it's advantages. This was the first fact Naruto learned as a child.

When you're little, it's easier to hide from the meaner kids, as you can fit places they can't. You can hide in the shadows when the adults cast glares at you. It's better to try and steal food with a little hand then a big clumsy adult one, and people never hurt a child to badly.

But sometimes being small wasn't all that great.

Naruto learned that even though adults wouldn't come near him, it didn't mean the children wouldn't. And not being able to play with the others at school was hard. Teachers ignored him, no matter how hard a question was for him, and he struggled to survive alone at night.

Today, as he sat under a tree in the playground playing with a stick in the dirt, while the others were playing a game of tag, he felt loneliness reach up and grip him tightly. Tears threatened to be exposed, a sick feeling in his stomach and a bruised wrist from an 'accident' earlier that day, all of them were attempting to push the young boy off the edge of insanity. It happened a lot though and Naruto was good at hiding his feelings.

Suddenly, he felt someone watching him. Naruto stiffened, eyes wide in terror as the sound of footsteps reached his ears from behind him. He watched out of the corner of his eye as a sandal stopped right next to him. It was big. Must be an adult.

Looking up tentatively, Naruto found himself looking into the cold eyes of one of the other teachers. He'd seen the man before, of course, but had never been this close to him, let alone asked him his name. Naruto shivered in the cold stare.

The man had dark brown eyes, the color matching his long hair, which he wore in a convenient high ponytail. He wore the chuinn vest, like so many people who had attacked Naruto over the years. Naruto feared the people in the vests more then the other people, as they seemed to be able to case the most pain. He had an old scar across his nose, which he was looking down at the terrified little boy in front of him.

Naruto felt the tears threaten, but he blinked them back. This man wasn't going to see him cry, no siree! Not on Naruto watch! Might as well have some fun with it, too.

"Hey, Sensi!" Naruto grinned widely, showing every single one of his teeth, including the three gaps where he'd recently lost his baby teeth." Whatcha doing out here? Shouldn't you be marking tests or something just as boring?"

That got the man's attention. He glared at the boy, but a faint smile graced his lips. "Actually, I _should_ be marking tests, but it's so _boring_ that I just had to stop. I just came out here to get some fresh air and watch you students play."

"Wow..."Naruto said, looking up at the man with big eyes. "You are boring!!"

"HEY!" The man snapped, placing his hands on his hips and giving Naruto a death glare. "I am not boring!"

"Really? You fooled me!" Naruto laughed manically, jumping up and ducking behind the tree. '_Might as well run away now, before I'm caught..._' Naruto thought, getting ready to bolt.

That is, until he heard the soft chuckle from the other side of the tree.

'what...?' Naruto cautiously looked around the tree to see the man looking at his doodles in the dirt. He appeared amused by the drawings, mainly the ones making fun of Naruto's current teacher. Most of the doodles were of a stick figure man, with words written about him. Examples of Naruto's work were "Egg head" "Noodle nose" and, Naruto's personal favorite, "Voyeur"(he didn't know what that word meant, he'd just heard it being yelled at a man in town. It sounded funny.)

"What are you laughing at?" Naruto asked, narrowing his eyes.

The man looked down at Naruto. "Do you know what this word means?" He asked, pointing to the last one. A faint blush was coloring his cheeks, just above his scar.

"Uh..." This was the last question Naruto expected. He blinked in confusion before answering with a stuttered, "Um...ah...w-well, no..."

The man sighed in relief. "Phew! That's good! Not something a want a boy as small as you knowing." He smiled then, while looking at the boy.

Naruto stared at him in shock, coming out from behind the tree, his mouth a small 'o'. '_He...that man...he...smiled at me..._' Naruto thought.

The man noticed his expression. He was on his knees in seconds, holding Naruto by the shoulders.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt? What happened?" He asked, looking Naruto over. Surely the boy couldn't have hurt himself to badly...

"You...you...smiled at me..." Naruto said, a blank look on his face.

"Uh...yes...I did." The man said, pausing his search for imaginary wounds.

"But...you...looked happy...Why?"

The man seemed taken a back. "I looked happy, because I was happy. Is there something strange about that?"

"No, I don't think so...It's just..." Naruto stopped and looked down at his feet. He might need some new sandals, he's were getting pretty worn out.

The man shook him gently. "Just, what?"

Naruto looked up at him. Big innocent blue eyes met worried brown ones. "No ones happy around me."

The man did a double take. That statement was said with such honesty, it hurt. To think, this little boy didn't know the feeling of happiness directed towards him, what else didn't he know about? And worse yet, what did he know?

Naruto looked back at his feet. He'd really should be going, but the man held him firmly. If he squirmed, he might be able to escape.

"Iruka."

Naruto started. "What?" He asked, looking at the man, who was looking down, his eyes shadowed.

"My name, it's Iruka." He looked up then, grinning broadly at Naruto. "What about you, little guy?"

"Naruto Uzumaki!" He said proudly, poking himself in the chest.

Iruka didn't need to ask him he's name, everyone knew who the kid with the wiskers was. But still, it was polite and the kid looked like he needed to be shown some TLC."That's a big name for such a little guy. You sure you can handle it?"

Naruto looked shocked. "Of course! I may be small, but I'm gonna grow up, and when I do, I'll be Hokage. Then I'll be the boss around here!" He grinned broadly, showing he's teeth again. Iruka laughed, getting up and looking around at the other children playing and laughing in groups.

"Say, Naruto, why aren't you playing with the other kids?" Iruka asked softly.

"Oh, they never want to play with me!" Naruto was still smiling, but Iruka thought he might have seen it waiver for a moment. "I think their just scared I'll beat them, 'cause I'm the best at everything!"

Iruka laughed. "Oh really?"

"Yep! That's why everyone gets mad at me, their jealous."

Iruka froze. "They...g-get mad at you? How mad?" He asked, looking at the boy fiercely.

"Just...mad..." Naruto must have said something wrong, Iruka looked mad.

"Naruto, do they hurt you?"

"N-no..."Naruto tried to hide his left arm behind his back, but Iruka caught sight of the movement and grabbed him by the wrist.

"Owww!!" Naruto yelled, trying to pry the fingers off the bruise. Iruka let go immediately.

"Naruto...How often does this happen?"

"Why should you care?" Naruto spat, tears in the corners of his eyes. The trust for Iruka was gone, as Naruto cradled the sore arm against his chest. "You're just like the rest of them!"

The bell rang then, signaling the kids had to get back to class. Naruto made a mad dash around Iruka, but the older man stopped him by firmly(yet gently) picking him up by the armpits.

"Hey, just a seco-"

"LET ME GO!!" Naruto yelled, flailing his legs wildly, scratching and biting Iruka's arms. Iruka held strong, '_Damn! Sharp teethed little dem-_' Iruka stopped mind thought, shocked and disgusted with himself for even thinking such things. Slowly, he lowered the angered boy, who glared at him as he slowly backed towards the school, yet looked around him every few minutes, as if checking for others.

"Don't worry, Naruto. No one will hurt you..." Iruka said, looking down sadly at the terrified boy.

Naruto scoffed. "Yeah, right like I'm going to believe that. Leave me alone."

"If that's what you want." Iruka said, nodding and walking off, leaving Naruto alone beneath the tree.

Naruto stood there, staring after Iruka. '_Maybe I should say sorry...I might have hurt him..._' he thought. He stook his head roughly, gripping his blonde spikes in frustration. '_What am I thinking?! He's the one who picked me up, he deserved what he got!...but...he seemed...nice...SHUT UP!! I don't like him...I don't want to like him...oh...darn!_'

Naruto started running after Iruka, moving his short legs as fast as possible. "Iruka-Sensi! Wait!"

Iruka turned around, only to get shoved to the ground by an small unidentified flying orange object. The air wizzed out of his lungs as he landed roughly on the ground, a laughing Naruto sitting on his chest.

"Wow, for a Sensi, you're really slow!!" Naruto exclaimed loudly.

"Naruto?! What are you doing?" Iruka asked, eyes wide.

Naruto scratched one of his wiskered cheeks. "Uh...I donno..."

Iruka stared at the boy, and the boy stared right back. Iruka chuckled inwardly. '_He's not as bad as I thought. A little loud, but he couldn't be the fox...he's to small, to cheerful.To...innocent, I guess._' As Iruka looked at the boy, he reached out and ruffled his spiky blonde hair. Naruto giggled, and Iruka decided that maybe, just maybe, he could like the boy.

Naruto softened at the feeling of a large hand moving his hair around in an even more out of control look. Iruka's smile looked nice. Smiling directed at him was something new to Naruto, like something he'd read in a book, but now that he'd seen it, he decided he liked it.

"Uh, Iruka-Sensi?"

"Yes, Naruto?"

"Uh...I was wondering...could you take me back to class?" Naruto looked nervous, looking anywhere but at Iruka. Iruka smiled happily, head cocked to the side.

"Sure. My class is close to there anyway." Iruka got to his feet again, then helped Naruto to his feet. ("I don't need help, Iruka-Sensi!!") "Come on, little guy, we'll be late if we don't hurry, and it won't looked good for the teacher to be late would it?"

"No, but It'd be funny!"

Iruka and Naruto laughed, thinking about it. Naruto looked up at his new found friend, then reached up and grabbed the much larger hand in his tiny one. Iruka tightened his grip, signaling to Naruto it was okay.

The Kindergarten teacher was surprised when Iruka showed up to drop off the demon brat. What was surprising was the fact that they were talking about nothing in particular, holding hands and smiling. "When'd Naruto get a dad?" One of the girls asked her friend.

Iruka ruffled Naruto's hair as he kneeled in front of the boy out side the kindergarten door. "Naru, I want you to promise me something?"

"What?" Naruto asked cautiously.

"If anyone hurts you," Iruka gently tapped the boy on the nose. "Tell me."

Naruto grinned widely, giving Iruka the thumbs up sign.

Naruto might have little, and it might have been bad in some cases, but it was always a benefit in one case. Hanging out with Iruka-Sensi.

Mainly because Iruka always paid for their raman.

_Authors Note:_

giggles I can't believe I finished this! I feel all warm and fuzzy! I hope you liked it! Review if you want, and I might write more to this if you give me some ideashint hint

P.S. Iruka was late for class, in case you're wondering.XD

M


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